Chen Lishu knew that everyone’s unspoken wish was to avoid mistakes, not necessarily to achieve success.
Selling products would be ideal, but if not, they absolutely had to avoid any errors.
However, watching such a good opportunity slip away from her grasp made Chen Lishu feel quite anxious.
Ignoring whether their advice was genuine or intended to undermine her, Chen Lishu thought for a moment, then looked up and said to Chen Guoping:
“Director, my idea of ‘calling out’ isn’t meant literally. Our province is quite well-prepared this time. The personnel responsible for foreign sales are limited. During the train journey, we gained a general understanding of each factory’s products and technical specifications. How about the four of us translators proactively approach interested clients and inquire? In business, it’s just as effective if we negotiate ourselves. We just need to uphold our bottom line. If it works, it works; if not, there’s no loss. Plus, it will lighten the load for the staff.”
Chen Guoping had always been a man of ideas and decisiveness. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so thoroughly prepared, arranging for each factory to create materials and even bringing four translators despite knowing there were foreign sales representatives.
“Xiao Chen, you proposed this yourself. We never said we’d join you. Besides, if a client comes over later, we can’t afford to be absent from here.” Liu Yun, who already held reservations, immediately refused when she saw Chen Lishu wanted her to participate.
It was laughable. Chen Lishu was desperate to steal the spotlight. Liu Yun wouldn’t help her; if it went wrong, she’d end up taking the blame too.
“I think Teacher Liu makes a good point. Those clients will come eventually. Chen Lishu, you’re being too hasty,” Jiang Yuwei said calmly.
She was just a translator; doing her job was enough. She wouldn’t be as petty as Chen Lishu, thinking this was a market bazaar and going out to solicit customers, which only lowered their standards.
Chen Guoping, however, was somewhat intrigued. He thought trying it out wouldn't hurt. Just as Xiao Chen said, if done properly, they would be alleviating the staff’s burden.
With that in mind, Chen Guoping nodded, “When you go over, pay attention to your wording. Make sure to display our nation’s generosity, and be civilized and polite, understand?”
“Director Chen, you really agree to let them go? What if other exhibitors think we’re stealing business?”
Li Tingliang strongly disagreed with Chen Lishu’s proposal. Although he wasn’t the primary leader in charge this time, who knew if there would be future collaborations with those exhibitors? Moreover, it would give the impression that they were too eager to sell, as if their products were subpar.
“We’re here to grab business in the first place. Besides, the platform has provided such a good opportunity; it would be a shame not to seize it.”
The leaders from the other three factories, upon hearing Chen Guoping’s words, knew he had made up his mind. Further discussion would be futile, so they decided to remain silent.
“Xiao Chen, this is Engineer Li from our factory. Let him go with you. If there’s anything you don’t understand or can’t decide, bring him over so I can discuss it with them.”
Factory Director Cao was bold and decisive, finding Chen Lishu’s suggestion excellent and being the first to voice his support.
The leaders of the other two factories saw that Factory Director Cao was willing to believe the words of a mere inexperienced young girl, and their factory’s cameras had always sold well. They couldn’t understand why, if he wanted to curry favor with Chen Guoping, he had to do it this way. Wasn’t he making a joke of his factory’s image?
“I’ll go with Xiao Chen,” Gu Lichun said after thinking it over. Chen Lishu smiled and nodded at him, then looked at Engineer Li. “Let’s go.”
The reason she had made this suggestion when everyone was skeptical wasn’t out of any selfish motive; she simply wanted to generate more revenue for the province.
Despite the current prominence of the Northeast provinces, with the acceleration of reforms and the rise of light industry in the south, the Northeast, once the elder brother of industrial bases, no longer held the same clout. Its past glory was irretrievable.
Chen Lishu felt she could contribute her small part.
The three of them walked towards the crowd. Gu Lichun and Engineer Li were typical academic talents; they found it difficult to speak up in a dense crowd.
Chen Lishu had accumulated considerable experience from doing business privately over the years. Since she didn’t know which clients were genuinely interested in cameras, Chen Lishu took out paper and a pen from her bag and wrote the word “camera” in large letters, then added “latest model” below it.
Within two minutes of holding up the paper, a group of interested clients came to inquire.
Seeing that the other party had Asian features and spoke English, Chen Lishu guessed they might be from Malaysia or Singapore. They also had a translator with them, who spoke English while occasionally interspersed with a few broken Chinese phrases.
After a brief exchange, the clients expressed their desire to see the samples. Engineer Li was pleasantly surprised to have two potential clients so quickly, and he was so excited that he was even a bit clumsy while leading them.
Chen Guoping and the others present were also taken aback; in less than ten minutes, Chen Lishu and the others had brought back five or six people.
Liu Yun and Jiang Yuwei’s expressions momentarily darkened as they looked at Chen Lishu.
They were the ones who had refused to go, and now they were being thoroughly proven wrong.
Soon, after negotiations, both parties found the terms acceptable, and they were led to the negotiation room by staff.
Within half an hour, the electric meter factory was about to sign a deal, which naturally made the other two factories envious.
They all regretted not following Chen Lishu’s suggestion, but being leaders, the stronger their initial opposition, the more difficult it was to speak up now.
“Yuwei, take the two factory supervisors with you. They can offer assistance if you encounter anything you don’t understand,” Li Tingliang said at the opportune moment to provide a graceful way out for everyone.
“Yes, yes. I heard your Uncle Li say that you won the city’s English competition, and your academic performance in school is always top-notch. With you, we are also at ease,” Director Zhou of the turbine factory immediately chimed in.
Li Tingliang was their direct supervisor. Seeing how much importance he placed on Jiang Yuwei, it was only natural to flatter him at this moment.
Jiang Yuwei looked at Chen Lishu, a flicker of disdain in her eyes. No matter how hard one tried, without power or influence, they would ultimately be overlooked by everyone.
Chen Lishu observed everything. Her proposal wasn't made to seek any personal gain; moreover, she wasn’t one to quibble over trivial matters. As long as her bottom line wasn’t crossed, she couldn’t be bothered with others’ opinions.
“I’ll go with Xiao Jiang,” Liu Yun said to Li Tingliang and eagerly followed Jiang Yuwei.
Before long, the two of them also successfully brought back a foreign client.
Having tasted success, everyone began to divide their tasks. Chen Guoping and the other leaders remained at the exhibition booth to receive foreign sales representatives and some clients, while Chen Lishu, Jiang Yuwei, and the others, along with a salesperson assigned by the factory, went out to pursue business.
Through everyone’s persistent efforts, by the end of the day, each factory had secured two to four orders.
The number of orders received in a single day was beyond the expectations of the leaders, especially since the transaction volumes for machinery and equipment were very considerable. Everyone was in high spirits.